Impetus
by Shyrstyne
Summary: War for Cybertron: Jetfire would later admit to himself that he was every bit as blind as Starscream. Just in different ways.


Since Jetfire is still an Aussie jet from Cybertron (the series) in my head, I actually wrote this with Skyfire as a placeholder, and switched them to be Jetfire after. I may have missed one, so if you randomly see a Skyfire in here somewhere, that's why.

For all that I loved War for Cybertron, there was just a few things that bugged me. One of them was this. Backstory. There was none of it. Jetfire yells Traitor and that's the last we ever see or hear of between the two. G1 did better than that. _G1_. I was actually kind of disappointed.

But then I realized something.

They did this on purpose I think, actually. They didn't give us the whole story. They hardly even hinted at it. But they gave us something else- bits and pieces. Ingredients for the meal, if you will. Instead of cooking it for us they saved themselves some time and said, 'Here. Have fun.'

I have never had this feeling before. I've certainly _wanted_ to expand on a back-story before, even made up a few. But I've never felt _obligated_ to do so. It was odd. It wasn't even a bad feeling. Which was even more odd.

But anyways.

Poor Starscream. I always imagine him to be a decent sort of person, if gruff and sharp, but then he always hits that inevitable line (the moral event horizon) and never turns around. I see him as hitting that line, realizing he's crossed it, and then instead of trying to salvage anything just closes his eyes, charges forward, and never looks back.

Not that it gets him anywhere, but I guess we all have our own ways of coping.

_**Impetus**_

"What do you think?"

Starscream tilted his head just to the side as he considered the projection before him.

"It's… pretty."

His companion chuckled briefly and turned to look at the projection himself.

"I suppose it is in it's own way, but that wasn't really what I was asking."

"Well then maybe you should be clear." Starscream scowled without any real spite behind it. He was silent a moment as he considered his answer. "It has potential, but it could be stellar cycles before we could get it stable, let alone enough to make any real difference."

"But think of that potential- we would never have to worry about energy shortages, we wouldn't be reliant on Cybertron, and we wouldn't have to worry about possible taint's or viruses in the main energon supply if we could manufacture our own… Not to mention the many other practical applications of such a source."

The jet nodded. "Indeed. And imagine the prestige we would earn from such a find- we could do nearly anything with that kind of power behind us."

His companion glanced down at him with concern in his optics.

"Starscream-" He began, but the smaller jet cut him off.

"_Jet_fire." The flier returned with a mocking whine. "I know. But you can still imagine, can't you? We'd be able to conduct any experiments we wished, go anywhere on the planet. We'd have more supplies and bots willing to work for us than we would know what to do with."

Jetfire stilled, and then nodded. It was a nice flight of fancy he had to admit. The station was actually quite well stocked and maintained, compared to some, but there restrictions. There were always restrictions.

"It will need a name." Jetfire said, diverting the subject. Starscream took it willingly.

"It has a name. A perfectly good one." The smaller jet grumped. Jetfire smiled wryly.

"352-E-ardanionium doesn't exactly roll off the vocaliser. I was referring to a common name, Starscream."

"It's a perfectly good name." He reiterated. "But if the common low-life can't handle that I suppose we'll have to come up with something."

Silence descended. The immediate area was quiet for the moment; most having gone off shift after a busy cycle, or off in another area. It was just them in the viewing room.

"… Dark Energon."

"Beg pardon?" Jetfire glanced between his companion and the holomatter projection of their latest undertaking.

"Well it's like energon, barring a few key differences, and it's purple. Normal energon provides incandescence many associate with light so… Dark Energon."

"… You are many things, Starscream. Creative apparently is not one of them."

The jet puffed up with indignation. "I am very creative. I just wasn't placed here to name things, is all. Besides, I like it. It's a good name."

Jetfire shook his head, but could not keep the smile from his face. Starscream was an odd one, but that's just who he was.

"It'll never catch on."

And he'd always had a knack for picking out the odd ones as friends.

xXx

The name had, despite every doubt on Jetfire's part, caught on with nearly every Cybertronian they met. Jetfire suffered many a told-you-so. Starscream continued to suffer Jetfire's disbelief.

xXx

"We need a volunteer."

"Isn't it a little early for such testing?"

"It's not going to get any more ready, Jetfire. It will either work… or it won't."

"… It seems so risky though. It's still unstable."

"It will always be unstable, until we add in a living element. That's the only way we're going to progress. You know that. We did the tests. I wouldn't be saying this if there was anything we had not already tried." Jetfire sighed.

"I know. That doesn't mean I have to like it."

Starscream snorted.

"No, but science marches on."

"So we need a volunteer."

"Yes."

"You're not telling me something."

"… We already have a volunteer. Several, actually."

"It's Skywarp, isn't it?"

"And Thundercracker. And Sunstorm. Sunstorm spoke first, so unless I can find someone more suitable to replace him with proof that they're better suited for it-"

Jetfire laid a hand on Starscream's wing.

"You said it yourself, Starscream. It will either work, or it won't. If he's as adamant to help as I'm sure he is, he'll do it. Skywarp and Thundercracker I'm sure are volunteering just because they're bored, but I don't think there is much that will deter Sunstorm. You know how he is; once his mind is set on something nothing can deter him."

Starscream slumped just slightly.

"I know."

xXx

Space had always seemed so empty before.

It was far too full now.

Jetfire saw his own morose reflection in the clear panels of the station. It was better than what he saw outside them. He was sure Starscream, standing nearby, saw no such thing.

"It would have been great."

Would have.

Could have.

He tried not to think about it now.

"It wasn't meant to be."

He tried not to think about all the bots he had passed by as he sped away, in his own desperation to be out of the blast radius.

He tried not to think about Sunstorm, fried from the inside by Dark Energon and their experimentation despite their every precaution.

He tried not to think about Starscream, who had condemned his own brother, plus nearly every bot on that side of the station, to death.

He thought it might be easier that way.

"We could have had them eating out of our servos." Starscream was talking to himself. Jetfire wondered if this was his way of dealing with his grief.

"What would you have done, with all that power?" He asked. Jetfire hadn't been expecting to be addressed, and took a moment to formulate his response.

"If I had that power personally- I don't know." He admitted softly. "If things had gone like they were supposed to… it would have benefited everyone. Mech, femme, bot, con…"

"If it had gone like it was supposed to." Starscream spoke near inaudibly.

Jetfire let his gaze wander back to the reflection on the translucent panels.

"And you Starscream? What would you have done with that kind of power?"

"I would have remade the world." He replied quietly. Such boasts were common with Starscream, but they were not usually made with such solemnity. "I would have made it a place where justice is no longer flawed, where I hold my rightful place, and where a bot can choose where and when he wants to go, without needless restriction."

He leaned back on his thrusters slightly, and off-lined his optics. He thought a moment, and Jetfire let him, despite misgivings for the smaller jets words.

"It's all their fault, you know. If I hadn't been sent to this stupid station and left to rot here my trine and brother would never have followed me. This experiment would never have happened, and a hundred bots and more would greet me as I walk to the command hub next cycle. My brother would still be here, and Skywarp and Thundercracker would still trust me.

"It's all their fault."

Jetfire watched in silence as Starscream walked from the room. Neither uttered another word to each other for several cycles.

xXx

He should have known better. Should have known Starscream better. The barely hidden desire for the power and prestige that had once came of his rank. The uncontained loathing for the bots he held responsible for his fall from grace. His inability to let go of old follies.

He knew Starscream. He knew the jet was not above revenge, petty or otherwise.

It was a disastrous combination. But he had chosen to ignore it.

He should have known better.

xXx

He had watched in dismay as Megatron advanced through the station. He had feared the worst when he heard that the Tyrant-to-be had managed to get his hands on the Dark Energon. Even worse when he learned that Megatron had somehow gained control of the volatile substance.

He'd heard far too much about Megatron. Very little of it had been comforting. He feared what such a mech might do with that power.

He saw it coming just a nanosecond before it happened.

"Teach me how to control the Dark Energon."

"Traitor!"

The word had left his vocaliser before he could even think, but there was no taking it back. Fear ran his revolutions for those long seconds as he railed at the seeker and made a dash from the station.

Disgust and weary betrayal ran him now, well on his way to the Autobots and their ideals, but a bitter taste had settles in his mouth. He had lost his friend.

But could not help but wonder if that friend had ever existed at all.

xXx

Starscream joined Megatron thinking that the tyrant would grant him the ability to control Dark Energon.

The seeker was sorely disappointed to find out that he could not- even if such a charitable nature had existed in the unforgiving warlord. There was no science or machination to Megatron's control. Merely luck and willpower fueled him.

For Starscream, who had betrayed everything he had ever known for nothing, all he had left was bitter rage.

He would take back what was rightfully his, he decided. Megatron was unfit to command, lumbering dolt that he was. Starscream would relieve him of that duty. He would lead the Decepticons, and he would lead them to victory. So he couldn't control Dark Energon and salvage what was left of his old life. That was all right. He would change the world in a different way. As long as he did something.

That drive was all he had left now.


End file.
